Hikari, The World's New Light
by Allura Solis
Summary: Hikari is an orphan who lives with her grandmother.She earns top grades and works hard to live up to her granny's expectations of her to be just like her grandfather. What will happen when Light's Death Note resurfaces and falls in Hikari's hands?
1. It Starts Again

My name is Hikari Yagami. I am seventeen, almost eighteen, and in my last year of high school at Daikoku Academy. My grandmother told me that my grandfather went to this academy when he was my age. I was told that he was a great man, but Grandma never goes into detail about what he did when he was alive. I don't really think about it much right now though because I'm just working on living up to Grandma's expectations of me. I've lived with her ever since my parents died when I was six. Well, to put it more accurately, they were killed. I'm studying to become a cop once I graduate from college. Grandma says that I'll be just like my grandfather one day.

I just sat, bored out of my mind, in my World Affairs class. As usual, I was just writing the same things I wrote every day: Song lyrics, song lyrics, and more lyrics. After finishing his speech about the Opium War, wound up interrupting my peace by mentioning something that actually did catch my interest.

"Alright, class, now that we're finished with our studies on the Opium War, let's look at something significantly more recent; Kira." I jolted up in my seat when I heard the familiar name. Grandma used to tell me about the Kira Case from thirty years ago, but I eventually stopped having time to eat breakfast at home. "Does anyone know about the Kira Case?" As usual, I was one of the few students with my hand up. "Yes, Miss Yagami?"

"The Kira Case started around thirty-eight years ago here in Japan when criminals started dying at an abnormal rate from mysterious heart attacks. The case lasted for around eight years, and nobody except the team of officers on the case ever found out if 'Kira', the person behind the deaths, was ever caught." A few kids grumbled about how I had an answer for nearly everything.

"Very good, Miss Yagami." The teacher praised me, "It sounds like you have some background knowledge on this topic, am I right?"

I nodded, "Yes, sir. Both my grandfather and great-grandfather were part of the Kira Task Force, and my Grandma used to tell me about it quite a bit." In the end, I wound up having to write a paper about the Kira Case, due in two weeks. More homework is the last thing I needed.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. I dragged through calculus, breezed through my foreign language class, scribbled through writing, and swept through art. Fortunately, at the end of the day, I didn't have too much of a workload to deal with.

"Grandma! I'm home!" I called as I entered the house I shared with my grandmother. She scuttled out of the kitchen in a simple red dress, a warm smile plastered on her face.

"Welcome home, Hikari. How was school?"

"Oh, the usual. We started talking about the Kira Case today, though." I told her. I opened the closet and hung up my bland tan jacket. "I'm the only one who has to write a report on the Case." When I looked back to my grandmother, her brown eyes were wide in surprise.

"The Kira Case? Why would you study that?"

I shrugged, "It's a World Affairs class, and the Case was a big deal around the world, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it was." Grandma held her hands out expectantly. I gave her a look saying, 'And you want… What?' "You got the results for the nationwide exams today, didn't you?"

"Oh, right! Yeah, I've got them right here." I dug through my book bag until I found the scoresheet. "Here you go, Grandma." She scanned for my name and quickly found it at the spot marked '1'.

Grandma smiled sadly. "Your grandfather would be so proud of you, Hikari. He got the same placement you did when he was in your year. You're so much like him. I just wish he could have met you and your father."

"Grandma, how did Grandpa die?" That was one of the questions about my grandfather I had never asked. The way I heard it, my grandfather had died when he was twenty-three, towards the end of the Kira Case. The only other question about him I hadn't asked was what his name was.

Grandma hesitated. "Your grandfather was… Killed… I suppose you could say he was killed by Kira."

I raised one of my dark brown eyebrows. "You _suppose_ Kira killed him? Shouldn't you know for sure?" I got no response from the sixty-three-year-old woman. "Who was my grandfather? I don't even know what he was like!"

"He was just like you, Hikari. Your grandfather was always at the top of his class and had a very strong sense of justice, like you do. He even looked like you." She stroked my dark brown hair. "However, his hair was quite a bit lighter… Would you like to see a photo of him?" I nodded, and she scuttled off the find a picture of my grandfather.

When Grandma returned, there was a photo of a young man in her hands. She handed it to me, and when I looked at it, I realized that this man really did look like me. As Grandma said, his hair was a lighter brown than mine, but we shared the same reddish-brown eyes, the same jawline, the same bone structure and body type, and the same school uniform. Or course, he had the boys' uniform and I had the girls', but we were clearly from the same school. I flipped the picture over, and in the corner it read, 'Light Yagami – Age 18'. So, this was my grandfather.

In World Affairs the next day, we were talking about the Kira Case as we did the previous day. It was mostly information and no questions, so I was writing as I usually was. While I wrote out the song, 'Kagayaka Sora No Shijima Ni Wa' on a spare piece of paper, I thought I saw something black flicker out of the corner of my eye. When I looked, at first, I saw nothing, but then I noticed a black book out in the grass. _Someone must have dropped it from a window_, I thought. I decided to fetch it later.

"Miss Yagami?" The teacher called.

"Yes?"

"Could you tell us about how Kira killed his victims, please?"

_A trick question!_ "Nobody really knows for sure. The majority of the criminals he killed died from heart attacks, but it is known that Kira didn't even need to have contact with the person before they died. The way I heard it was that he just needed to know someone's name and face, and then he could kill them." The teacher looked impressed.

After class ended, my teacher called me to his desk. "Miss Yagami, how did you know that about Kira?"

"It's simple. I'm Hikari Yagami, relative of two of the major members of the Kira Task Force, Light Yagami and Police Chief Soichiro Yagami." Those names were well-known, since they were two of the most prominent deaths of the Kira Case and famous police officers. "One day, I'm going to be just like them."

I hustled to my next class, trying to avoid being tardy. I cut across the grass, remembering to pick up the notebook I saw. Along the top read 'DEATH NOTE' in large white letters. _A 'Death Note'? What does that mean? _I flipped it open and read the first page, which was filled with rules and instructions. _'The human whose name is written in this note shall die'? That's weird. It sounds like a chain letter._ I read more of the page. _'This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.' This is really weird. Whose is this?_ I looked for a name, but was unsuccessful, or rather, too successful. As I flipped through the book, there were names: Hundreds upon hundreds of names. Deciding to look at it more later, I shoved the Death Note into my book bag and ran to class.

I sat quietly at my desk in my room, researching Kira. There were lots of old websites dedicated to him with requests to kill certain criminals and such. Most of them hadn't been visited in years. "How did you do it, Kira? How did you kill all those criminals without even touching them?" My radio played the day's broadcast of depressing news; three fatal stabbings, five shootings, eight robberies, eighteen arrests, and twenty assaults, all in the past week. I snarled and flicked the radio off. Instead I turned the TV on. The channel was already on the news which was broadcasting a live report on a hostage situation on the other side of Tokyo. The criminal's name was emblazoned in red under his photograph: Ichirou Katashi. Apparently, he was holding thirteen people hostage, including five children. "What's wrong with people these days?" I pulled the Death Note I found out onto my desk. My pen was already in my hand, and I didn't hesitate to write the criminal's name down in the first blank spot I found. "Forty seconds, and he should die." I watched the hand on my wristwatch tick until it reached forty. Nothing was happening on the screen. "Damn. I guess it was a hoax after all." As soon as the words left my mouth, people started pouring from the building.

"Police confirm that the suspect is dead!" The announcer said. "Witnesses say that Ichirou Katashi collapsed suddenly and stopped breathing. The exact cause of death still has to be confirmed, but it sounds like a possible heart attack!" A grin spread across my face as I looked back at the Death Note.

"So it does work, after all." I laughed gleefully. "I suppose with this I can pursue justice like my grandfather and great-grandfather before me. I can-"

"Get rid of all the evil people in this rotten world?" A strange voice croaked behind me. I turned around and screamed. There was some huge skeletal thing decorated with feathers and bones standing by my window. "I've heard that line before. Quite frankly, I didn't expect to hear it again, not this soon."

"Who are you? Why are you in my room?"

The skeletal thing laughed, "My name is Ryuk. I'm a Shinigami, a God of Death. But I'll bet you already knew that, didn't you?"

_A Shinigami? Why would a Death God be here?_ I glanced at the Death Note. "Are you here for the Death Note, Ryuk? Or are you here for my soul?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Seriously, you sound just like the last kid to find that Death Note. I'm not gonna do anything to you. I just get to stick around until it's your time to die. As for the Death Note, it became part of this world again as soon as it hit the ground, and since you picked it up, it's yours."

I picked up the black book. "It's mine? You aren't going to take it back?"

"Nah. If you don't want it, just give it to me or someone else, but then I'll have to erase your memories." Ryuk explained all the rules and conditions of the Death Note, and I listened attentively.

"Sounds fine to me. I'm keeping this Death Note so that I can make this world better. I aim to be like my grandfather, the face of justice!"

"What are you talking about?"

"My grandfather was a police officer, and a pretty well-known one. Sadly, he died during the Kira Case, but that shows just how dedicated he was to justice! I'll make him proud, Ryuk! I'll bring justice to the world and become Hikari, the Goddess of that new world!"

"Oh boy. Here we go again…"


	2. Little Light

In my dark room, I maintained my façade of being the perfect, hardworking student studying for her exams, when in reality, I was sentencing criminals to their rightful punishments for their crimes. _Gorou Hajime, Kei Kazuhiro, Makoto Kiyoshi, Masumi Masayuki…_ I scribbled names onto the pages of my Death Note, which I assumed belonged to the original Kira, judging by the huge amount of names on the previous pages.

"Hey, Hikari, do you have any apples?" Ryuk asked from the couch across the room. "I could really use some right now."

I didn't even stop writing for a second. "No, Ryuk. Grandma doesn't keep apples around because she knows I don't like them."

"YOU DON'T LIKE APPLES?" The Shinigami sounded appalled. "How can you not like apples? Even Light seemed to like them!" The point of my pen tore through a page when I heard the Shinigami mention my grandfather's name. I spun around in my swivel chair to face him.

"You didn't tell me you knew my grandfather!"

"You're related to Light Yagami?" Ryuk clearly hadn't realized that my last name was indeed Yagami, and my resemblance to my grandfather probably didn't register either. "I didn't know he had kids."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Grandpa Light only had one son with Grandma before he was killed by Kira. That kid was my father, who Granny named Light after his father. I was named by Grandma as well, and my name, Hikari, also happens to mean 'light'. In other words, Grandma is still kind of obsessed with him."

Ryuk thought for a moment, trying to figure out if I kid was really related to Light. "So… If Light is your gramps, then is your granny Misa Amane?"

"That's right. Grandma and Grandpa never were able to get married since he died, so she just went out and changed her name to Yagami. Later she found out she was carrying Grandpa's kid, and had my dad. Now him and mom are dead and I have to listen to Grandma go on and on about how I'm just like Grandpa."

"You know, you are actually a lot like Light." Ryuk said.

"No, I'm not," I told him as I turned on the news, which was reporting the mysterious deaths of criminals around the globe, all of which were causes by yours truly. The news reporter eventually mentioned the Kira Case from over thirty years before. "I am the new Kira, Ryuk. Grandpa died to capture Kira. So did a lot of other people, including my great-grandfather, and from what I heard, the legendary 'L' was killed too. I am not like Light Yagami."

Ryuk laughed, "We'll see about that, Little Light." I raised my eyebrow at the weird nickname. The Shinigami laughed again, "It seemed to fit, seeing as your name means light, and you're so much like the Light I knew."

I was about to respond, but my grandma walked in before I could. She had a plate with a piece of strawberry cake in her hands. "Oh, Hikari, I thought you were studying. Have you finished for the day?"

I scrambled to hide the Death Note without looking suspicious. "Um… No, I still have more to do. I was just taking a break!"

"Well, alright then. Here," she set down the plate on my desk, "I thought you might like a sweet snack. In your love of sweets, you're just like Ryuzaki!" I'd asked who that was before, and I quickly learned not to bother wondering.

"Thanks, Grandma. I need to finish my homework, so if you'll please-"

"May I see what you have?" _Oh no! If I sift through everything, she'll see it! I'm doomed! I should have known I wouldn't be able to be Kira! _"Ah, how about I show you when I finish? There's still a lot I need to do, and I don't want to get my papers mixed up." _I guess it isn't a total lie…_

Grandma just smiled sweetly. "Alright then, Hikari. Just let me know when you want another piece of cake so I can bring you another one."

"Okay!" I waved her away. "Just let me finish, Grandma!" Finally, the old woman left. "I thought she'd never leave! I can't be Kira with people breathing down my neck like that!" I finished writing the day's criminals in the notebook, closed it, then hid it in my desk drawer. I smiled in contentment. "I must say, Ryuk, I'm starting to like being the Goddess of the World. Bringing justice to those who deserve it is truly rewarding. There's already been a huge drop in crime, and eventually, it'll hit zero. Even though Grandpa was against Kira, I think he'd be proud, don't you think, Ryuk?"

The Shinigami laughed, "Probably. And by the way, Little Light, your gramps wasn't exactly an L-supporter. He was just part of the investigation." There must have been a giant anime-style '?' over my head, because Ryuk laughed even harder. "Let Misa touch that Death Note! She'll tell you all kinds of stuff!"

Seeing as he was a Shinigami … I decided not to listen to him.

"Hikari, could you tell us about why Kira started killing people?" Just like for the past week, I was called on to inform – no, _enlighten_ – the other students about Kira, as well as the quest to find him.

I sighed quietly to myself then answered, "Kira killed criminals that he decided were truly guilty, along with those who stood in his way. I read an article about twelve FBI agents who were killed because one of them got too close to Kira. A few police officers died as well. My grandfather and great-grandfather were killed too. Other than them, Kira stuck to just criminals who he saw as guilty and didn't show any remorse."

The teacher applauded, "As usual, a more thorough response than I could ever hope to give! Well done, Hikari! Now, I want you each to write a persuasive essay about your opinions on Kira…" While the other students worked on their essays, I was busy writing as well, but in my Death Note instead.

"Hey, Light!" Ryuk whispered next to me. "I'm bored!"

"I'm not Light, I'm Hikari!" I hissed. "And don't talk to me in public! Unlike you-"

"People can hear you when you talk. Heard that one before, Little Light."

I ground my teeth together in frustration. "How many times do I have to say it? I. Am. Not. Light!"

The Shinigami shrugged his huge shoulders. "Whatever. I see you as Light, so I'm gonna keep calling you that, no matter what you say. You better learn to live with it."

"I wonder what will happen if I write your name down."

"Chief Takahama! Look at this!" The young police officer, Ichirou Nagasawa, nearly crashed into his superior's desk with a sleek laptop perched in his arms. Nagasawa set it down on Chief Takahama's desk so that the older man could see the screen.

"What exactly am I looking at, Nagasawa?"

"Have you noticed the abnormal amount of heart attacks lately? Well, I looked into it, on my free time of course, and I saw a trend. Most of the people who died were criminals!" The young officer sounded excited, but the police chief was as stone-faced as ever.

"What are you getting at?"

"Doesn't this sound familiar to you, Chief? Thirty-some years ago?" Chief Takahama'a face didn't change at all. "It's Kira, Chief! Kira is back!"


	3. Crystal Candy

I finished my daily routine of punishing criminals with something I hadn't felt in a while: Boredom. Nobody was opposing me or even appearing to notice that there was a new Kira, save for noting the drop in crime. "This is getting old really quickly, Ryuk."

"Huh?"

"I'm bored. I want something to happen from all of this. The original Kira was lucky. He actually got some excitement in his life." I pointed the remote at the TV just in time to see one of the news anchors announce that the police had just given them a special report. I had to continue listening.

"We have just been told by the police that the Kira Case is being reopened after over thirty years! According to the report we received, there is a strong possibility that Kira has resurfaced and is killing criminals once again. An officer noticed a similar heart attack trend to that of the one that started the original Kira Case, and then requested that the case be reopened." Both Ryuk and I were frozen out of surprise.

"Wow… I should've seen that coming."

"Hikari! Your uncle Minoru is coming for a visit!" Grandma shouted up the stairs, "Could you make sure your room is clean?"

"It's already clean, Grandma!" I hid the Death Note in my drawer.

"You know, Little Light, you should probably find a better place to hide that. If someone else touches that Death Note, they'll be able to see and hear me too."

My head snapped up and I glared at the huge Shinigami. "Shouldn't you have said that a while ago?"

"You never asked, and I'm not obliged to tell you anything about that Death Note. If you want to know all the rules, just read through those first few pages. Everything is written on them."

"I don't have time for that!"

"That's your problem."

"You suck." I scurried downstairs to find something absurdly sugar-laden and delicious, the kind of thing I searched for when I was stressed about something. Normally, I just went after regular sugary goodness. I raided my sweets cabinet, (yes, there is a cabinet dedicated to sweets) and eventually settled for purple crystal sugar candy. That's about as sugary, delicious, and unnatural looking as you can get at the store I shopped at. I smiled as I munched down on a sweet crystal, shattering it between my teeth.

"Crystal candy? Something must be bothering you Hikari." My grandmother never was terribly bright, so she had a habit of pointing out the obvious. "Is there any way I can help?"

"Not really. It's something I have to deal with myself." I told her when I swallowed the crystal fragments. "By the way, they're reopening the Kira Case. I thought you might like to know that."

Grandma Misa didn't even bother with one of her over-theatrical _'WHHAAAAAATTTT?'_ lines. She just stood open mouthed. "The Kira Case? Are you sure?"

"That's what they said on the news. Are you okay?" The old woman looked like she was about to faint.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just… Kira is dead, Hikari. He was killed thirty years ago."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, then there's a new one. This person seems to have the same motive and method of killing, so people are saying that it's Kira. If this is true, I don't really think that would be too bad, right?"

Grandma looked relived. "So you feel the same as I do. That's wonderful."

"What?"

"You didn't know?" My expression probably said something along the lines of 'I didn't know what?' so she gave a quick overview of what she was talking about. "When I was just a little older than you, I was a very popular model. That's around the time Kira appeared, and I was one of his strongest supporters. I felt grateful to him for killing the man who murdered my family, so I desperately wanted to meet him, but I doubt anyone I knew was Kira." I couldn't help but be surprised. Not once had it crossed my mind that my grandmother would support Kira, let alone admit it.

"But… Grandpa was killed by Kira, wasn't he?"

"That's what I was told."

"Why would you support him then?"

"Why would you?" Grandma had a point. Light Yagami was my family too, so why would I support someone who killed him? Because I, essentially, am that person.


End file.
